Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Simon of Cyrene

We don’t live in a society where police officers or
soldiers routinely order us to do stuff for them.

But Simon did live in such a society. He was the
foreigner who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he got
dragged into something that had nothing to do with him.

A man was being taken to his place of execution. He was going to be crucified.
He had been severely beaten and he was too weak to carry his own cross. And so
they had picked on Simon, possibly because he was black and different (he came
from Cyrene, an ancient city in Libya), and they ordered him to carry the
cross.

I wonder what he thought as he carried the cross: ‘This
thing is heavy. How far have we got to go? Why did I get landed with this? I
had my own plans for today. This thing is heavy. It is so unfair. I’m treated worse
than a dog in this place. People will think I am the one who is about to be
crucified. I can’t refuse. I can’t put it down and run. I am nobody; I am powerless.
Are we nearly there yet? This thing is really heavy!’

There are times in life when burdens are imposed on us; when we have to do things we don’t
want to do. The child is sick at 3am in the morning and we need to tidy it up;
the elderly parent is confused and is getting to the stage when they can’t look
after themselves, and we need to step in and make some decisions. Or maybe we
are falsely accused, or we are given a responsibility that threatens to crush
us. Or our partner falls ill with a long term, disabling, illness and we have
got to take on the role of carer. We have a child who is born with a serious
disability: all our hopes and plans are blown out of the water. It is not our
choice but our life is going to be significantly different. Or someone we love
is accused of doing something dreadful (one can only feel deep sympathy both
with the families of the victims, but also with the parents of the co-pilot who
crashed the German wing plane). Or maybe they tell us we have a life threatening,
life changing illness. These are heavy burdens, maybe too heavy a burden, to
bear.

But maybe Simon began to also think about the man for
whom he was carrying the cross. Perhaps he glanced over at him as he walked
beside him. Who is he? What dreadful thing did he do to deserve death by
crucifixion?

And maybe when he got to Golgotha he hung around and
watched.

He saw this man offered wine and myrrh (it was a sort of
sedative) but he refused. He was thrown down on the crossbar and nails were hammered
into his wrists. He was then hoisted up, and the crossbar was dropped into a
position with a shock that must have torn at his wrists and put every bone in
his body out of joint. That was just the beginning.

And then he began to get a hint of what this man was
accused of. A written inscription was placed above him: ‘The King of the Jews’.
He looked with more interest. A political, no doubt one of those many
pretenders who claimed to be the Messiah. And he heard the mockery. There were
the passers-by. They were laughing at him, saying that he had claimed that he
would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

What was unusual was that men who were considered pillars
of the community were also there, senior religious leaders, and they were also
having a laugh. They looked at him on the cross and they mocked him for his
weakness and his powerlessness. He saved others, they said, but he could not
save himself.

And even the two people crucified with him taunted him.

I don’t know what Simon thought. What is interesting is
that Mark specifically tells us that this Simon was father to Alexander and Rufus
– and Mark would not have mentioned their names if they were not personally
known in the early Christian community.

So maybe this Simon did become a believer.

Maybe he came to realise that Jesus, forsaken by
everyone, was indeed the King of the Jews, the promised Messiah.

Maybe he came to realise that Jesus chose not to save
himself, but rather to go through with the cross in order to save us.

Maybe he came to realise that the temple Jesus was
talking about was the temple of his body, and 3 days later the temple was
rebuilt, he did rise from the dead.

And as we read these verses we realise that injustice and
bad things happen; we realise that there are times in life when we have to
carry very heavy burdens – often burdens that others, or circumstances, have
imposed on us. Simon is forced to carry the burden for Jesus, but Jesus is the
one who has chosen to take onto himself the burden of burdens. He was falsely
accused, spat upon, mocked, beaten and then crucified. He was, as we will see
in a few minutes, cut off from God. And he didn’t do it, out of necessity, or
for himself. He did it, in love, for us.

And when we find ourselves carrying heavy burdens –
whether chosen or imposed, fairly or unfairly - we know that there is one walking beside us, who chose to take onto himself the greatest of burdens, so that as we carry our burden, we discover that he is the one who carries it with us.

Comments

Post a comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Advent carol service Leader The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;Choir Those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shoneChoir O nata lux de lumine – Tallis (O light, born of light)

Leader In this service, we join with brothers and sisters around the world, and light candles to mark the signs that God has given to his people as we journey through Advent. FIRST CANDLE: Abraham and Sarah, to whom the promise was first given. We light our first candle to recall the men and women of faith in the Old Testament, to whom the promise would be given. 4000 years before the birth of Christ, God told Abraham and Sarah that one of their descendants would destroy sin and death, rule the world and bless all nations.

(A person lights the First Candle)

Leader Let us prayAll God of Abraham and Sarah and all the Patriarchs of old, we thank you for the promise that you have given us. Help us, like A…

Acts 2:37-47 Peter, in Acts 2:40, urges the people who listen to him: ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation’ How could he say that? How can you call any generation corrupt? It is very simple. Peter is speaking to a generation which has crucified the Son of God. Some people here may be landlords. I don’t know whether you ever have any problems getting rent. If you do, God knows what it is like! Jesus tells a story about a vineyard. The owner gave it to some people. He said to them, ‘Look after it for me. Care for it, enjoy it. All I ask is that you remember that it belongs to me, that it is my gift to you, and give me what is mine when I send my messengers to you for the rent. The owner goes away. Some time later he sends a messenger. The tenants beat up the messenger and send him away with nothing. The owner sends another messenger. The tenants do the same thing to him. Finally the owner says, ‘I will send my own son. He will come with my full authority. They will respect him’. Bu…

Children are a gift from God. And as always with God’s gifts to us, they are completely and totally undeserved. And you have been given the astonishing gift of Benjamin, and the immense privilege and joy of loving him for God, and of bringing him up for God. And of course our greatest desire for our children is to see them grow, be happy, be secure, flourish and to be fulfilled, to bring blessing to others, to be part of the family of God and to love God. And in baptism you are placing Benjamin full square in the family of God. I know that those of us here differ in our views about infant baptism. The belief and the practice of the Church of England is in line with that of the historic church, but also – at the time of the Reformation – of Calvin and the other so-called ‘magisterial reformers’ (which is also the stance taken in the Westminster confession). They affirmed, on the basis of their covenantal theology (which sees baptism as a new covenant version of circumcision), of Mark 10:1…